The Minny Stynker Augmented Reality Experience brings a Theatrical picture book experience, and series of creative activities to YOU, wherever you are!

What would you do if you moved to a strange new city?

All your friends are far away, your new house smells weird, and it rains all the time?!

Kit takes matters into his own hands, when one night, while drawing to pass the time, the swirls and whirls on his page giggle into a life of their own, and a very unusual adventure unfolds! Join Soap Soup Theatre on their most riotous, colourful adventure of all - where a bedroom becomes a forest, a school turns into a solar system and the drawings in your bag have a life of their own!

This year we have been fundraising to launch the full picture book experience and interactive AR activities alongside the tour of the theatre production, and are proud to share that we have acquired all the funds we need now through a commission from The Space, a grant from The Arts council of England, and a successful crowdfunding campaign. You can see the outcome of our 2 year R and D pilot in the video above! We can’t wait to finish the experience alongside the amazing Zubr Curio, and start delivering it to families nationally. We are still raising funds for the delivery of the project, so you’d like to support us bring magic, relief and creativity to families caring for children with long term health conditions, you can donate to our Crowdfund here.

This is for families caring for children with long term health conditions, or families who don’t feel comfortable in traditional theatre settings, they too can experience a magical event in the comfort of...wherever they are! It’s also for anyone who loves magical stories in any form.

Alongside the picture book experience, we have commissioned 3 AR activities that enable young people to explore character, sound and spatial design, in a fun accessible way. Each one can be done as a family, or solo, so you can share the fun with your child. Play music with mushrooms and trees growing out of your kitchen table, create an imaginary friend and watch them dance in your living room, and place celestial orbs in your bedroom for your imaginary friend to fly through. These activities will blow your mind!

Do you work in a children’s Hospice, on a children’s ward or for a charity, educational setting or support group that works with families caring for children with long term illness or chronic health conditions? Or are you caring for a child or young person with a health condition? If you’d like to take part in the Minny Stynker AR Experience get in touch! Just email us on soapsouptheatrecompany@gmail.com and we’ll let you know when it’s ready

The AR Experience is a combination of simple creative activities and a magical story, all brought to life through Augmented Reality. Your child, patient or service user will soon have their very own imaginary friend, dancing and waving to them in their own room!

If you are a family, we can send you all the download links you will need, and a copy of the Minny Stynker activity book.

If you are an organisation we can offer The Minny Stynker Experience Kit, that includes an iPad, Headphones, activity pack, art supplies and picture book, either to use at a table, or in a bed. This also includes the full suite of the Minny Stynker Creative Workshop Series Videos.

The Creative Team

Tomasin Cuthbert - Artistic Director (Theatre Production and AR Experience)

Tomasin is proud to have produced six Arts Council funded shows with Soap Soup Theatre, which have toured nationally and received high praise from bookers and audiences of all ages. A multi disciplinary artist, Tomasin’s skills span design, illustration, puppet making, storytelling, performance and puppetry as well as producing and running the company single-handedly. She is passionate about making high quality work which surprises and pleases, reminding adults of the magic of play and imagination, and encouraging children to explore, discover and create. Making work that touches people's hearts and makes them think is at the core of her practice. Her performance style explores the relationship between puppet and puppeteer, fusing expressive human performances, detailed puppetry and above all lots of humour! She has designed and/or made puppets, or been a puppetry mentor, for numerous companies including Stuff and Nonsense, Sixth Sense theatre, White Horse, the Bristol Old Vic, the BOV Theatre School and the BOV young company.

Tomasin is a resident of The Studio, Bath, and Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol, UK. The Studio is a creative technologies collaboration with Watershed, University of the West of England and University of Bristol.

Sarah White - Co Producer (Theatre Production and AR Experience)

Sarah is a producer based in the South West. She is passionate about creating engaging and exciting theatre experiences and working with young people and communities to foster creativity and confidence.

In 2013 she co-founded immersive, site-specific theatre company Four of Swords, producing and performing in all 11 shows while partnering with organisations such as English Heritage, National Trust, Exeter RAMM, Exeter Cathedral, Exeter, Plymouth, Marjon and Cambridge Universities.

She is an Associate Artist with Exeter Phoenix & produces their Summer Film School, taking it to Shanghai in 2018. She has also worked as Associate Producer for Devon based companies Common Players and Links to A Life.

Lillie Simpson-Little - Junior Unity Developer (AR Experience)

Lillie is a seasoned game/app developer with over 7 years of experience, specialising in Augmented Reality. Lillie holds an MA in Sound for Games and Applications from dBs Institute, where they developed their technical skills and passion for development. They began their career in tech quality assurance (QA), and have progressed to XR development. Prior to joining Zubr in 2023, they developed XR games and immersive applications for Aardman Animations, Bandai Namco, and Huawei. For this project, Lillie will lead the development of the AR experiences and app.

Chris Price - Technical Director (AR Experience)

Chris joined Zubr in 2016 following comprehensive experience creating digital experiences for heritage and tourism attractions which link stories and people with places, and in natural history film-making. He leads our photogrammetry and 3D scanning work including processing LIDAR and terrain data, and works across the Zubr team to devise the best way to turn clients’ visions into (augmented/virtual) reality. Chris is passionate about working with disabled communities and is living with Cystic Fibrosis. He will oversee the creative and technical development implementation of the Minny Stynker AR app.

Chris Harrison - Projection mapping (Theatre production)

Christopher is a multi-disciplinary storyteller based in Bristol, UK. He works mainly in animation and projection design for theatre, but his practice also spans writing, comics and performance.

Christopher has created illustrations and animations across multiple platforms, with commissions from organisations such as Sony and Selfridges. Animation and projection design for theatre includes Bristol Old Vic show Outlier, his solo show The North! The North! and the Viking adventure Vinland by Jack Dean. Recent animation projects include the computer games Great North Road (Jack Dean & Company) and Truth Sleuth: Thrills, Chills and Chemical Spills (Modest Genius Theatre Company).

Tom Ball - Composer (Theatre Production and AR Experience)

Tom is a composer, sound designer, producer, songwriter and occasional performer based in Bristol. Tom's long and varied career in music includes a gig up the Eiffel Tower, composing a score for the circus big top at Glastonbury Festival, writing and producing many albums including two with Marthas & Arthurs ("Belle & Sebastian meets ABBA" according to The Guardian) and performing at various music festivals across the UK. His music has gained radio approval from the likes of John Peel, Jarvis Cocker, Cerys Matthews, Marc Riley, Mark Radcliffe and Steve Lamacq, on Radios 1,2,3 and 6Music. He likes to combine elements of electronica, folk, pop, ambient and whatever else takes his fancy at the time.

Tom has been creating music for theatre for 15 years and is an artistic associate of Angel Exit Theatre.

Stephanie Kempson - Director (Theatre production)

Stephanie is a director, writer and dramaturg, who, like all freelance artists, also sometimes workshop leads, programmes, storytelling, markets, project manages, and produces. Largely in theatre, but often beyond or on the strange projects that float between forms.

Stephanie makes theatre for traditional theatre contexts, museums and archives, online, festivals and more.

She has a BA English and Creative Writing from Falmouth University and an MA in Film and Literature from the University of York and trained in theatre with Bristol Old Vic’s brilliant Made in Bristol scheme and have since been working full time in it.

Assistant director on the Bristol Old Vic’s Jane Eyre, which went on to become a co-production with the National Theatre and has since toured and streamed extensively. Adapted Stephen Collin’s graphic novel The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil for Bristol Old Vic’s Young Company. Attended the National Theatre’s Emerging Director Scheme, and was a Leverhulme Scholar with Bristol Old Vic in 2019. A resident at the Pervasive Media Studio.

Her theatre company, Sharp Teeth Theatre, is an associate company with The Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol.

Stephanie has a chronic illness (ME/CFS) which is generally mild, but it means she is particularly interested in access (physical and financial) to the arts.

Saikat Ahamed - Dramaturg and R&D Devisor/Performer (Theatre production)

Saikat is a Bristol based British Bangladeshi writer, actor and theatre maker. As an actor, he has worked in all parts of the industry over the last twenty years; roles include Tinkerbell in Peter Pan at Bristol Old Vic and then The National Theatre, television series regulars Vince Arya in Monday Monday for ITV and Mr Chadley in Pennyworth for HBO. His film work includes Aladdin directed by Guy Ritche, This Must be the Place directed by Paulo Sorrentino and the British smash hit East is East. Most recently he has been appearing in Life of Pi at Wyndhams Theatre in The West End. Saikat is an Associate Artist at Bristol Old Vic. More details about his work can be found at www.saikatahamed.com

Ricardo Ventura - Performer and Devisor (Theatre production)

Ricardo Ventura is a Brazilian actor, director, and writer, based in Bristol since 2015. With a commitment to creating socially impactful storytelling, he challenges audiences to see the world from different perspectives. Ricardo's writing journey began in 2007 with his debut play in Portugal, which later earned him the Best Play award in Portugal's National Theatre Contest in 2010. Across Brazil, Portugal, and the UK, he has written, directed, and acted in a range of productions, from stage dramas and comedies to street and physical theatre. Ricardo is dedicated to inclusive storytelling and has led devised participatory works with young people at risk and within psychiatric settings. His acting credits include collaborations with the renowned Brazilian company "Clowns de Shakespeare" and the UK-based Vamos Theatre, with whom he performs and delivers aspects of their learning and participation programme.

Hatty Campbell-Taylor - Marketing Officer (Theatre Production and AR Experience)

With a background in outdoor performance and theatre, Hatty is experienced in developing communications for socially motivated and inclusive creative events. She spent several years at The Performance Arcade in Wellington, New Zealand and since returning to the UK has worked with numerous arts organisations including Activate Performing Arts, Trigger, Affordable Art Fair and commercial arts gallery Livingstone St Ives.